Religious Freedom Under Fire

Just in case you have been hiding under a rock – which I believe some Christians, me included, have been guilty of doing in the past – Cities Church, located in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, was abruptly interrupted and terrorized by anti-ICE protestors this past Sunday.

According to the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), the protestors chose this Baptist church as the scene of their demonstration because one of the pastors is supposedly an active field office director for the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

These terrorizing protesters were not trying to hide what they did at Cities Church. Oh, no! In fact, their obvious intentions were quite the opposite, as they brazenly filmed their actions. And their film showed former CNN anchor Don Lemon entering the sanctuary right in front of the protesters, boldly disrupting the worship service, and badgering the pastor with questions.

But cameras picked up a lot more than the obviously scripted words of this disruptive act of chanting and yelling, including the terrorized responses of an innocent child in attendance at this weekly worship service.

To be honest, it was an unbelievable, almost unimaginable scene, and one that was even harder to watch. But it did take place right here on American soil in an American church. And regardless of how any American feels about religion or church attendance in general, the fact is that our nation has always protected the freedom to worship (or not worship) as each citizen chooses.

I think violation of our understood right to religious freedom was why the whole filmed situation bothered me so much. It was especially disturbing to me, since religious freedom has been of utmost importance throughout our history as a nation. Truly, worship in America has always been sacred, and as such, our houses of worship have continued to be sacred, holy ground. So, the thought of people randomly disrupting a worship service for a political ideology or belief is both shocking and disturbing.

I kept asking myself (after I read about and viewed this protest) whether the days of religious freedom in America were over. I questioned if Sunday, January 18, 2026, might be the beginning of the end of religious freedom in America. Or, I wondered, would our national leaders put aside their fear and worries over potential loss of votes to actually draw a line in the sand against this heinous act?

That was my hope. So, I prayed that someone in a place of influence and authority would recall the actions of Queen Esther during another momentous time in biblical history. For even when that young queen hesitated due to fear for her life, her Uncle Mordecai admonished her to understand the importance of that moment in history and her part in it:

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? (Esther 4:14, NIV).

After the video clips and news of the church protest swept across the country, I am sure many Christians across our nation were thinking of this same biblical passage and also praying that someone (or more than one individual) would take a stand – before our churches are no longer safe, sacred places to worship freely. For yes, worship is sacred, and our houses of worship are sacred as well. And the freedom to worship openly and without fear is the most important American freedom of all.

In fact, the freedom to worship openly was the exact reason why the Pilgrims first came and settled on these shores. Historian David Barton of WallBuilders even labels those first Pilgrim colonists as “religious dissidents,” whose sole purpose in coming to the shores of the new world of America was freedom to worship as they chose.

Barton writes, “The Pilgrim story is one of faith through hardship, and endurance through persecution. They were the first to risk their ‘lives, fortunes, and sacred honor’ for the establishment of freedom on American shores.”

Sadly, that age-old and costly religious freedom was openly challenged this past Sunday, January 18, 20206. But thankfully, only four days later, our leaders answered the challenge with a resounding no and announced the arrests of two supposed leaders of the Cities church protest.

Various Fox News affiliates reported on Thursday, January 22, that two of the accused leaders of the raid on Cities Church, Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen, had been arrested for their alleged roles in the organized protest of the worship Cities Church service.

Armstrong is described by local news sources as a lawyer, based in the Twin Cities area, as well as an activist, reportedly affiliated in the past with groups such as Black Lives Matter, as well as a former president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP.

Allen is a current member of the St. Paul School Board, and on her “Chauntyll Allen for School Board” website, she is described as a longtime, front-line community organizer, educator, and youth activist, and the leader of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities.

Armstrong was arrested first, early Thursday morning, and of her arrest, Kristi Noem, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), wrote in a post to X (formerly known as Twitter):

"Homeland Security Investigators and FBI agents arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong who played a key role in orchestrating the Church Riots in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is being charged with a federal crime under 18 USC 241. Religious freedom is the bedrock of the United States - there is no first amendment right to obstruct someone from practicing their religion."

Section 241 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code basically prohibits “two or more people from conspiring to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the constitution or laws of the United Sates, or because of his having so exercised the same.”

Now, every American citizen who is arrested and charged with a crime is also afforded the presumption of innocence. And our government bears the entire burden of proving each accused citizen guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. So, time alone will tell what becomes of the accusations against Armstrong, Allen, and any other people arrested in conjunction with Sunday’s protest of Cities Church.

But I, for one, am encouraged that Queen Esther was not the only person in a position of power who was not too afraid to take a stand for religious freedom.

Long live America! And long live our precious, blood-bought American freedom of religion.

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